Do you “speak” EMV? Six terms you need to know to get ready for EMV payments

Did you know that an EMV credit card isn’t used by swiping it? “Swiping” will someday be a term of the past (along with the mag-stripe relics that swiping supports). Credit cards with an EMV chip are “dipped”, “waved”, or “tapped.” Not to worry, it’s really pretty simple. Here is a quick rundown of terms that you’ll need to know:

EMV – Stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. EMV is a set of global standards for smart card payments and acceptance terminals.

Fraud liability shift – Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover have announced that on October 1, 2015, counterfeit fraud liability, which has traditionally been assumed by the card issuer, will be absorbed by the party that does not enable EMV during the fraudulent transaction.

Dip/Dipping – Instead of swiping a card, customers insert an EMV card into the POS terminal, much like an ATM. Inserting the card and removing it is called “dipping.”

“Tap & Pay” or Wave – When using a contactless card, there is no dipping. The card is “tapped” or “waved” against the POS terminal. One quick tap establishes connection and verifies authorization.

Chip & pin – EMV payment cards are commonly referred to as “chip & pin” cards because the chip card is often coupled with a PIN code for advanced security. However, not all cards need to be associated with a pin number. It’s possible to have “chip & signature” cards, too.

Dynamic Data or Dynamic code– EMV cards generate a “dynamic code,” a security code that changes for each transaction. That way, if a card is copied or compromised, the data cannot be used to make multiple transactions. In contrast, the data transmitted by magnetic stripe cards never changes and, once compromised, can be used over and over for countless fraudulent transactions.

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PCI-P2PE – Stands for PCI-certified Point-to-Point Encryption. EMV helps merchants in this fight against fraud, but to maximise card-holder protection and make it simpler for merchants to become compliant, it is fundamental that the POS system has PCI-P2PE which can be easily integrated for a seamless user experience.